"Obama and his friends preach tolerance, but there is bigotry at their group's core." (UPDATED)

Given my spiritual longing, I decided it was time to explore places of worship. Being a secular Jew, my first step should have been a temple. However, the synagogues around here are practically recruitment stations for Obama (aside from the Orthodox ones, but I don't speak a word of Hebrew). So I decided to experience church on Christmas Eve.

Checking out churches online, I found almost none that offered political neutrality. Most heralded their progressive credentials, welcoming the transgendered, but not conservatives.

I was pleased to find an Episcopal church whose website focused on religion, not ObamaCare. I left a message for the priest that I was looking for a church that didn't press a political agenda because I wasn't a liberal.

I received an icy reply from the priest, the Reverend Lucy, who said with barely-contained disgust, "I don't think you should check us out."

Her response left me shaken and angry. I understand that leftists despise conservatives. I have seen that creepy look of pure hatred when I naïvely told a leftist friend about my political conversion.

But an Episcopal priest rejecting me during the holiest time of year? Isn't anything or anyone sacred?

In shunning me, the Reverend Lucy exposed not only her own hypocrisy, but the duplicity of the left itself. She unveiled the left's dirty little secret -- that their doctrines are as bogus as global warming.

I used to believe it all. But when I removed one piece -- that the left protects women -- the whole house of cards came tumbling down.

Obama and his friends preach tolerance, but there is bigotry at their group's core. As displayed by the Reverend Lucy, this is a spiritually vacuous ideology. While they fashion themselves as human saviors, they clearly don't like people very much, and they despise conservatives.

I've experienced some decent liberal Episcopalians... but I've experienced more Reverend Lucys... and it is a sad thing to see... do read the rest of Robin's piece, including her letter to the Very Sad Reverend Lucy...

Things like this, watching the liberals ratchet up their glee with Karl Rove's divorce, and then the hating on Limbaugh as he's hauled into the hospital in serious condition; really makes you wonder what's in store for the first conservative put at the mercy of ObamaCare. Reagan, when he was shot, was said to show his good spirits by joking with his doctors "I hope none of your guys are democrats." Maybe he was on to something.

All these liberal policies are promoted as bricks in the great big house that is "A Society That Works For Everybody." This is the biggest lie, I suggest, that they have ever told. They don't want a society, a culture, a government, a tax code that works for everybody. They don't want to eliminate aristocracy and social stratification. They want the classes, they want the layering, they want ranking, they want distinctions.

They want to be measured relative to others who are inferior. They are all about existing inside an exclusive club, and you can't have anybody in the club if nobody is going to be left out of it. They need the conflict.

I went to the Unitarian Church. Let's talk about bigotry and hatred for anyone who wasn't "enlightened."

We searched for a pastor, and ultimately hired a woman who came out as a lesbian a year later.

What made me leave was that when a person who had been very active giving much to the church asked this "pastor" to visit her friend (who wasn't Unitarian but who lived with this person) who was very ill. This wonderful "pastor" wouldn't go visit, and indicated that if someone had not given to the church (meaning, I guess, MONEY) then she was not going to visit them because it wasn't, I guess, worth her time.

At that time I was dating (and later married) a Catholic. I have now converted. I cannot imagine a Catholic priest ever denying ANYONE the chance to pray and confide, whether the person is Catholic or not.

Since the Episcopalians have embraced the gay lifestyle/culture, I do not in any way doubt your experience. While I have no problem with gays per se, what I have a problem with is that many (not all) gays don't want JUST acceptance or tolerance. They want people to validate their lifestyle.

I read the entire article. I cannot make the same connections. I am an extremely analytical person but to tie the office of Obama to adolescent rape? What? I have never tied the rape victims in Iraq to Bush because that would be absurd. What rape victims you ask? Don’t be foolish not everything that happens over there can be covered in the local news channel’s sixty second war highlight clips (but I can you tell a lot of stories as a medic).

You need to connect the facts for me in ways that make sense and not just pick out random acts of senselessness that have taken place while Obama has been in office. I can rattle off weird s*** under every presidency. I'm not defending this administration I am questioning the credibility of your suggestion.

You live in a very cold and scary place. Come out and feel the sun of your skin brother. It’s not that bad out here. I try defending a lot of stances that are worth it but the paranoid right and the paranoid left cannot be helped. It is not mayhem in the streets.

This is just another perfect example of intellect griped by fear. Knock it off. There is no huge conspiracy, the left is no more human than the right, this partisan paranoia is the reason I cannot side with either party half the time. The fanaticism of national fear is almost cult like in some cases.

Have you ever watched a movie or cartoon were one guy has to smack the hysteria out of another in an attempt to get them to calm down? That’s exactly what I feel like. We have existed thus far with Democrat and Republican leadership and all of a sudden each side is accusing the other of being the most heinous crowd on Earth? Well then who the hell should I fear?

Come on, let’s hear it. Someone hates me for thinking both parties have their own form of extremists. Damn me and my calm, unemotional demeanor. I would say the only thing that is frightening are the semi-schizophrenic bloggers preaching about the demented opposing party. Do you see liberal choppers in the sky dropping PETA pamphlets and rainbow stickers? No, I'm not defending the left I am ridiculing the absurdity of your concern when none is needed to that degree.

And really how can you base your opinion of the whole on the few? Oh let me guess you have met thousands? No you just watch television and then get scorned by a few to which you write letters like a heart broken teenage girl demanding the popular boy apologize for dumping you over Susie. Then you side with who ever more closely holds the same fear, agenda, etc.

Wiggs... Running church to church will never end if you really found out about the heart and soul of every person in a position of authority no matter what denomination. The reason is because we are all human. I'm not saying don't leave if you are displeased, just don't kid yourself that one entire religion is holy and the other is not. Have Catholic priests ever made the news for something immoral? I wonder... Quit looking to man, be the example you are looking for.

Wiggs... Good point about the gays always wanting tolerance. I always thought it was ironic that "open-mindedness" meant I was not free to openly dislike anything. Tolerance means tolerating people who aren't tolerant. Wordy but you get it.

Schism is common in Protestant denominations, and the Anglican Communion has been on the verge of splitting for years. Shop around and you'll probably find what you're looking for, or become a Catholic as Robin did.

Frank is either one of the "Useful Idiots" as VI Lenin named them, or one of the perpetrators.

He probably thinks that the Che/Pol Pot figure who will emerge from "The Revolution" will reward him with a nice dacha on the Hudson, instead of a bullet to the back of his head like what happens in the real world.

There is--and has been--a concerted effort, perhaps a conspiracy, to remove our freedoms and eliminate the USA. Our Frank chooses not to believe in the evidence--or rather to poo-poo the idea. "Pay no attention to the man behand the curtain..."

Well, it's too late. Toto has already shown us the guy at the controls.

That's exactly what I was talking about. Revolution? Che? Bullet in my head? No, no and no. Yet another over reaction. So I am either an idiot or a perpetrator? Wow. I thought two tours in Iraq during the Bush administration put me on the side of America, guess not.

And your conspiracy theory is always self fulfilling in that when things go wrong you can point to the "curtain" and the "man behind it". You really do see choppers in the sky. Amazing.

Syl... I felt perfectly calm when I wrote it. I can type and think quickly but other than that I was sitting in my office overlooking the airfield and simply typed my thoughts. "Intolerant of someone else's opinion," by that are you not being intolerant of mine?

Setnaffa watch out Syl sounds like one of those scheming liberals! My emotional state: smiling and laughing (and slightly afraid of the whole bullet in my head thing).

Anybody want to join my super secret revolution (even though I'm not a liberal)? You get a helicopter, decoder ring, a beret and a gun to shoot people in the back of the head with... but don't tell Setnaffa.

Anybody want to join my super secret revolution (even though I'm not a liberal)? You get a helicopter, decoder ring, beret and a gun shoot people in the back of the head with... just don't tell Setnaffa.

Sorry about the previous misspelling, I was just SO emotional at the time, OMG.

Good question Valerie, furthermore I thought political issues and religion were tied together for the most part. Abortion, gay marriage, war... I have not been to a church without it own agenda of some sort, not to say that's bad I just haven't seen due to the nature of religion.

Episcopalians have always been raging, flaming snobs; this predates the current schism in the Anglican Communion. The church I grew up in was full of conservatives who would not hesitate to judge you if you wore tacky shoes, but I was not taught to hate any one or any group there. For this I am very grateful. Robin would have figured out soon enough that you need to be very socially skilled to mingle successfully with the country-club WASPs that make up most high-church Episcopal congregations.

May I respectfully suggest that Robin try the orthodox synagogue? Yes, the prayers are in Hebrew, but there's English translation. Yes, the service is long, but that gives you time to enter the mood. Yes, the women sit apart from the men, but that keeps the men from ogling you (and vice versa).

Another possibility is a Chabad house (hassidic); you will find the rabbi and rebbitzen particularly friendly to newcomers and potential ba'alei t'shuvah (people seeking to return to their Jewish roots).

My goodness - where on earth does Robin live? I grew up in the midwest, where mixing religion and politics - one way or the other - is still considered to be in bad taste. To paraphrase Luther, concern thyself only with thy soul.

Allow me to put in a plug for my own church, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Check us out!

Robin's experience at the Episcopal church could have so easily been her last. I wonder at the goodness of God acting in her life that she didnt just decide to have done with all Christians because of it. I am so glad she gave another church a chance. Too many people have a bad experience and write off the lot of us Christians because of it. It takes a person with an open mind and a generous heart to get past a rejection in order to give others a chance. Robin seems to have both her heart and her mind wide open. As we always say in my Anglican tradition "Thanks be to God" for that.

I am planning on reading her a lot more. Everything I have read so far as been interesting and well done. What a journey she is on! I am glad that she is sharing it with us.

Roberto... Did you read the whole article? Did you happen to come across the part where rape and Obama had been linked by paralleling an ever increasing crime rate with the current administrations time on its feet.

To change topics, I too have seen a look of intense distaste or incredulence in the faces of liberal friends when I explain my libertarian points of view. But, followed quickly on the heels of this, comes a look that plainly means "Oh no, this guy gets it." Deep down, even they themselves don't believe the crap they're slinging.

Here Roberto let me help you follow the links on this site all the way to AmericanThinker.com where it was originally posted...

In the complete article, not just the section above, it goes on to say:

"Obama is sending out a 'question authority' vibe -- everyone's authority, that is, except his. In the Berkeley area, there appears to be a skyrocketing of black-on-white crimes. I'm hearing stories from clients of even more brazen street crimes and harassment. I've written about two horrendous crimes at local schools the last few months: the gang-rape and beating of a teenage girl at Richmond High School and the stoning of a middle-school teacher during her class."

Now do you see the connection I was making? I'm not sure what part of that you cannot read. The author is trying to link Obama and rape as I pointed out in the first place. This is insanity, that was my whole point that everybody should shun this sort of fearful bull. Even though Obama is an opponent that is no reason to abandon logic and fairness when discussing him or anybody for that matter.

As far as the analytical thing I'm not sure where you get off knowing me all of a sudden. I don't assume to know anybody from one box of text. I do however gain a little insight into just how unstable some people are from a full article.

I would love to hear what you have to say after seeing the exact text in question. Either you could not read it, there were some big words, or if you did simply could not think of in a critical manner.

As for the issue of my comment is was the mountain of illogical fear connected to the current administration highlighted in the article. Furthermore it was about the necessity to get over these gloomy obsessions and realize that everything is all right even if we have to work through it. If I am wrong and we are on the heels of Armageddon than panicking won't do any good. If by chance I am correct and the evils that be do not over run the world there is again no point in fear.

Just scoot in, make the claims that you're a lifelong conserved Chrisitian conservative, complain that "both sides do it" (about what ever the topic happens to be), slip in a parting shot about how you're sick of the veiled racism in the Republican party, and scoot out.

As for the issue of my comment is was the mountain of illogical fear connected to the current administration highlighted in the article.

That is your issue. It is not the isssue under discussion here. And even on your own terms, you have failed to demonstrate that it is "illogical" to fear that progressivism is linked to crime and to bigotry. You have not even attempted to do any such thing.

If I am wrong and we are on the heels of Armageddon than panicking won't do any good. If by chance I am correct and the evils that be do not over run the world there is again no point in fear.

That makes no logical sense. There are several possibilities which are far more likely than the two which you posit. In your world, what's going to happen is going to happen regardless of what we do. But it seems entirely likely that the "evils that be" may or may not overrun the world depending on what we do, depending on whether or not we oppose them.

get over these gloomy obsessions and realize that everything is all right even if we have to work through it.

Again, this is illogical nonense. If "everythng is all right" then there is nothing which we "have to work through".

You guys are right, I'm sorry. Progressives are tearing this country apart, we Republicans have all the answers. The person who wrote the article is perfectly sane.

Yep, we won't be able to agree here. Oh well at the end of the day your president is a Democrat and the world is coming to an end because of it. Somehow my neighborhood is as safe as it has always been. Weird hu?

Now go ahead and make your arguments, counter point whatever you will, complain that I'm not brief then complain that I'm not specific, show contradictories and continue in your spotless perfection.

Do me one favor, blog a couple hundred words about anything and I promise to shove some statics and word play in your face to show just how "illogical" you are. Mine was simply a stance of "it may not be a cake walk but everything is not going to hell so relax" get it.

David... I'm sorry, what golden words do you offer that we have never heard the likes of in any article or blog, on any random political talk show, etc.? Come on, give us something I have absolutely never heard before regarding politics. Open it up think tank.

Maybe you don't budge an inch within the party, maybe you're drawn to the ilse, maybe you are one of any number of cases that can be rattled off. What utterly unique and insightful things do you have to say that we just have to hear? But becareful not to type too much because reading, apparently, gets difficult after the second paragraph.